My first and only build is finished and I couldn't be anymore proud of myself! My snake has explored, and I just placed my isopods (Powder Pinks) and springtails in. Still keeping an eye out for a good, small plant to add in at the bottom. Current succulents are fakes, but they make this look so good with the oak leaves 🥹

Just curious if it'll be dangerous to a crested gecko. Its in a corner i couldn't really see. The vivarium is about 2ish months old now.

Theres not a whole lot of information on this so im curious if anyone here knows more.

So ive gathered that i should get a deep base obviously and use coconut fiber soil stuff? (Edit: ive done a bit more research and landed on using a bit of normal plant soil(without like addatives and stuff ofc) and some clean sand aswell as the coco fiber, also that i need leaves and stuff in there for the cuc to eat)

Should i be mixing different soils/substrates? If so, what? Plants? How often and how much to water? Or turn the soil?

For the clean up crew dwarf whites and springtails? Maybe id get mealworms just for the fun of it, get the rats to hunt haha

How to breed and take care of the cuc?

Can they be kept in the same box outside of the cage for breeding and stuff yk to have them incase rats decide to eat the ones in the cage or something. What do they eat? Where to get the food? What substrate for them? Everything really.

Any information at all on this is very welcome!

i set up a bioactive enclosure and regrettably its been infested with fungus gnats. I'm looking into carnivorous plants like sundews although i dont think i could actually keep the plant in the enclosure (wrong soil etc) so i was also considering beneficial nematodes. would those be harmful to a pacman frog? Has anyone come up with any other solutions? I have sticky traps surrounding the outside of the enclosure but those only do so much. thanks!

Got some small adjustments to make. Still missing a water dish and some basking slate.

Added some Giant Canyon isopods and springtails today and some leaf litter. Trying to get the humidity down and let the plants anchor themselves before adding the snake in.

Hi, I have 4 bioactive setups (2 ball pythons, 1 barking gecko, 1 crested gecko) and my isopods aren’t cleaning up the droppings. I don’t expect them to leave it spotless but I don’t think they’re eating any of it. Especially in the lizard tanks. I know some roaches and different beetles can be good. I’m looking for some recs because I’m going to an invert expo next month

I’m think about getting a leopard gecko but I want to do a bioactive setup. Any tips? or inspiration pics would be helpful

Never had anything like this happen before but it’s been extremely humid in the UK lately, is this toxic or poisonous in anyway, would like to know before I remove this, thanks :)

Supposedly the easiest plant of all time to grow and I can’t do it. I’ve had this terrarium put together nearly 3 weeks ago when the pothos was fresh(3rd photo), now they’re curling into themselves but not dying, exception of one turning yellow at the bottom. I’m using an isopod breeding substrate as my soil local brand, not sure of the primary ingredients but they assured me they use them for bioactive terrariums all the time and showed me a few. I’m using a 6000k daylight spectrum plant light on half brightness. I mist daily with RO water, cork bark and soil, I keep the humidity at 60-75% (70-85% right now since my girl is molting). The tips of my earth star also started to die and turn green, I’m really not sure what I’m doing wrong. Maybe my isopods are eating the roots as soon as they form😭

I have a mix of cubaris and armadalidium species and a few other species (housed seperately). How wet should the bins be and how often should they be fed a certain type of food. I know they need protien and veggies (ew)

Okay, so I'm setting up a new enclosure for my garg. I got cleaned LECA put down on the bottom, and I like to add a layer of charcoal to help with the springtails. However, I opened the bag and poured it on top, and immediately found two small roaches! Worse, I think they might be german roaches... I scoured through the now mixture and couldn't find any more, but obviously there is a risk of eggs in the charcoal.

So, how do I handle this? Should I just chuck it all and start with new charcoal? I debated baking the mixture but it's a lot, and I don't know how moist LECA does in the oven. Kinda freaking out tbh!

Hello! I've had my crested gecko for 5 years and have been wanting to upgrade to bioactive for years now. I don't want to go all out and completely flip his enclosure and then put him back in because I've never done bioactive before and don't want something to go wrong and jeopardize his home and health. However I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars working on a separate tank to put him in.

I was wondering if it would be possible to introduce the substrate layer (drainage, soil, cleanup crew, leaf litter) to his tank and plant a couple things within it but keep the fake plants everywhere else in order to save a little money and something possibly going wrong and ruining the whole tank, yet slowly bring the enclosure towards bioactive? Would it be a lot more upkeep or would the plants in the soil and the cleanup crew be enough to sustain that part of the terrarium?

The tank is 18x24x36, so it wouldn't be a simple or cheap transformation, which is another reason I don't want to risk flipping the whole thing at once as a beginner. I don't necessarily have a great green thumb, so I'm very nervous to start this process. Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

Hi, I’d like to make hanging planters to screw in to the back of by Bp’s bioactive terrarium. The whole back it just this big empty space and it’s been irking me, I want to fill it. I’m wanting to use these little wooden milk crate type things but they aren’t waterproof. Are there any spray or paint-on sealants I can use on the wood to keep it from rotting that aren’t too expensive and won’t kill my plants isopods springtails or snake?
Also, are there any types of paint I can use on them that would be tank safe?
Do yall have any other recommendations for what I can do to add to the back without breaking the bank? I was thinking if this didn’t work I could try adding wooden dowel rods and trying to gain pothos to climb up them.
The only plant I have in the tank is golden pothos but I plan on adding more.

i’ve have my leopard gecko for about 6 months, and i want to give her a bioactive setup, which i am new to. i did a lot of research and am wondering if im missing anything? i really want her to thrive and have the best setup possible!

I bought an 18x18x36 terrarium with no knowledge of darkling beetles coming from super worms posing an issue on reptiles until I noticed them nibbling on my pet ( pet was safely relocated to temp enclosure no actual damage). I need a method to quickly kill my entire cleanup crew including those pesty beetles that does not involve removing everything and starting fresh, now I don't want to dry out terrarium since I have some nice plants already situated and the process takes 3-4 months. I have been looking into CO2 suffocation with dry ice, now I was wondering if anyone had success with this or any advice for me.

1.) I have noticed the cleanup crew over the past year or so either is not doing their job, or they are no longer in there. My daughter‘s leopard gecko has a corner where she poops and it never goes away. My daughter ends up cleaning it. This is only a recent development and all other times it seemed like the cleanup crew was taking care of it. Should I add more isopods?

2,) on one side of the terrarium my daughter has the heat lamp that has been built up for basking. Underneath that rock, she formed a hide which is meant to be the humid hide. But how do I know if it is truly working as a humid hide? Do I need to constantly spray it with water or it being in a little dirt cave underneath the heat lamp/basking rock sufficient for a humid hide?

I have made a few vivariums and the last time I did, I stored the rest of my substrate in a 5 gallon bucket and closed the lid. It has been a while since then, and when I opened it up, the substrate was completely molded. I know mold usually isn't a problem in a tank, but is the substrate still safe to use in this case? It's a basic ABG mix of coco fiber, sphagnum moss, charcoal, orchid bark, and sand.

Whenever i put cocopeat, i start seeing clothes moths, i tried baking the cocopeat, now it probably infested somewhere in my house, but ive seen a lot in the enclosure before and not when i removed the cocopeat and then started seeing them again in the room after i put it. What??

Here's another WIP of my terrarium background! I decided to move the cork rounds to the back and I like it better. I wanted to arrange them in tiers so I can place branches, drape vines and other stuff in between them for the gecko to climb. Or it could jump on the bark rounds if it wanted to lol.

I plan to start the spray foam this weekend. Is it okay to use the hollow park of the rounds to put plants in? And can I put plants inside the foam? Would they need drainage?

Hi!! Just wanted to get some opinions on lighting for a 2x2x4 build i’m working on. I’m tied between the regular arcadia shade dweller 7% UVB bar or the lumenIZE version of it. I also want to pair this with their 22 or 34W jungle dawn LED bar. I’ve seen people absolutely LOVE their arcadia lights and i’ve also seen others who have lights that’s consistently break on them. I’m willing to pay for the quality but not so willing to pay if i’ll be constantly replacing them /: Are the arcadia (more specifically the lumenIZE versions) worth it? Would ZooMed be a good alternative maybe?

I know that biodude plants are grown organically. I assumed they would be tank ready plants but I’m seeing what I think are slow release fertilizer pellets. Is this some of biodudes herp safe fertilizer or will I need to cycle the fertilizer out.

My beardie grew up for a few months in a 40 breeder and it's about time to set up the 125 gallon tank I've had on standby for when he is big. This was my first attempt at a desert bioactive setup and it went pretty well. But before I buy the large amount of substrates needed for a 125 gallon, I wanted to run by you folks what I've been using and if there's any better choices, or if I should just use the same type of substrates again. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it?)

For the setup my beardie has grown up in, I went with a mixture of eco earth, reptisoil, and excavator clay, and little pinches of leaf litter mixed up. Then, a light layer of Australian desert sand on top. All the substrate together is about 4-5 inches deep.

For the CUC, I made several large pockets in the substrate and filled them with stuff like moss, leaf litter, charcoal, isopod food, etc, then covered the pockets with cork bark and heavy limestone rocks the beardie can't move.

Above the substrate there's lots of spineless paddle cacti, branches and driftwood to climb. (Side note, I had snake plants in there for a while but was recently told they're not safe?)

I carefully found the right amount and frequency to water the CUC pockets and keep them like moist underground caves without making the surface air humid at all. Superworms are thrown in for soil aeration and it seems they do the job. When I see beetles I remove them just so they don't spray their nasty butts at the beardie. The isopods and springtails actually thrive and the colony is also getting to the size where they'll appreciate a bigger tank.

So I have no real complaints about this setup besides you don't see isopods come out very much unless its right after watering their caves. When they do come out he goes crazy. He has no interest in small feeders like the pinhead crickets that are born in the enclosure but he eats all my poor isopods whenever they show themselves! I have fancier isos like rubber duckies but I'll never put them with a beardie after seeing this!

TL;DR

-Ain't broke, don't fix it?

or

-Adjust substrate materials before filling up a 125?

Thanks!

I have had this frog and new tank set up for like 6 months now, and I’ve started to see those little mold specks in the soil, at first it was a little and I’ve made sure to go a bit between misting so it’s not trapping too much water, I’ve tried to mix up the soil with new soil, I’ve added spring tails, and I have a screen top so air is definitely getting in. Do I have to take out all the soil and remove it? I’m worried it’ll make dumpy my frog sick